Tag Archives: Vancouver

This story was for a feature project in the winter of 2010. Obviously not basketball-related but it’s a fun piece so I’d thought I’d include on this blog.

Speeches Beyond raps at his usual spot at the corner of Granville and Georgia streets in downtown Vancouver. – Brian Jones Photo

When Jason Eastwood steps onto the SkyTrain platform at New Westminster Station, he’s still Jason Eastwood. But when he steps off the train at Granville Station, he no longer goes by the name he was born with, but assumes the identity of the street-rapping truth-spitter Speeches Beyond.

He gets out of the station, wheeling a cart that holds his precious amplified speaker and basket of CDs, and walks only a few yards up to the storefront windows outside of The Bay department store on Granville Street. Eastwood takes the black garbage bag cover off the amp and places it aside, then carefully sets the amp down beside his cart. He treats it like a newborn.